Over 3-year-gap the longest BMC has gone without elected body

MUMBAI: The impending elections to the country's richest municipal corporation will finally end the all-powerful role of the state govt-appointed administrator (municipal commissioner) who was indirectly governing the BMC for the past three years.

March 7, 2025, marked three full years without an elected civic body in Mumbai -an unprecedented stretch in the history of the city's governance.

In this time, the BMC awarded contracts worth more than Rs 12,000 crore for road repairs and concretisation, its liabilities surged to an all-time high of Rs 2 lakh crore, and for the first time, a guardian minister set up office inside the civic headquarters.

While the opposition has time and again raised its voice against the lack of accountability and transparency in the running of the civic corporation which was under the administrator, nothing much changed on the ground.

Former Congress corporator from Dahisar, Sheetal Mhatre , said civic officials gave the short shrift to former elected representatives like her. She said they received no replies to their complaints. "We were forced to file RTIs whose replies would also take a long time. If as a former elected representative the civic administration didn't find it important to even engage with us, what can the public expect?" she said.

Rais Shaikh, two-time former corporator and now MLA, said, "Without corporators, the administration threw open in a haphazard way infrastructure projects like the Coastal Road in the past three years leading to a loss of face for Mumbai. The Prime Minister's Office took notice of the shoddy quality of Coastal Road forcing civic-appointed contractors to redo the road," he said.

Congress MLA from Mumbadevi Amin Patel said their poll preparations are already underway. "I aim to increase corporator seats in my constituency. Last municipal polls we lost a seat by 500 votes. This time we are taking no chances."

Ravi Raja, former opposition leader in the BMC, now with the BJP, said while major projects like Coastal Road and road concretisation got a push from the state govt, local area issues suffered. "Corporators each year get a fixed sum which they can use for local area development works. Especially in pockets where there are slums or tenanted properties such funds are used for road repairs, toilets, drainage and water pipeline. Since three years these issues are being ignored," he said. Corporators would get development funds of Rs 1 crore to carry out minor works like repairs and maintenance of roads, footpaths, streetlights, cleaning minor drainage systems in their wards. Every year they also get a corporator fund of Rs 60 lakh to use for social and cultural works.

Milind Mhaske, CEO of NGO Praja Foundation which used to bring out report cards on corporators based on a set of parameters like questions a corporator raised, meetings attended and so on, said, "For elected representatives, stakes are high and they try to oblige the voter to ensure they are elected in the next election too. The administration has nothing to win or lose if they solve a citizen's grievance."